Samsung Galaxy Camera, announced at IFA 2012 earlier this week, could have totally given Nokia 808 PureView a big run for the 'best cameraphone in the world' crown. But the thing is, despite running a full-fledged smartphone operating system and even having Contacts and Messaging applications, it lacks basic GSM phone functionality.

Not that it should have had that. But considering its stellar innards and the fact that it's almost there, Samsung Galaxy Camera with its 4.8-inch 720p Super Clear LCD display will leave you wondering why the Korean giant - for all of its new found chutzpah - didn't go all out on the device.

Looking at its face with the protruding lens, one would see very little that sets Samsung Galaxy Camera apart from its predecessors.

But flipping the device around and playing with its massive touchscreen, we'll see exactly what makes it special. A true landmark digicam portable media player hybrid, Samsung Galaxy Camera runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean right out of the box with its 1.4 GHz Quad Core Exynos 4412 CPU, and handles multitasking with 1GB of RAM. Really, even for a current portable media player, such specifications would be top-notch.

Why Samsung left out the earpiece and mouthpiece on the Galaxy Camera still baffles me. I mean, as it is, it's already too much; Why not push it further and just go overboard by making it an actual smartphone?

But who knows? Maybe the follow-up to this will finally allow users to make calls and send text messages. After all, if there's a company that can make that happen these days, it's definitely Samsung. Oh, they might also want to give Samsung Galaxy Camera II (or whatever it will be called) a bigger battery; Li-Ion 1,650 mAh pack powering such a device?! Come on.

No word yet from Samsung Philippines on this hybrid's release date and pricing details in our country. But if they'll be releasing it here, I'm guessing it will be around Yuletide with price tag of roughly Php 27,000.